Remarks at the Funeral of Denise Gandee

It is good to commemorate the life of our fellow teacher, our friend Denise. It is also good to celebrate the life of Denise. But we would do her the greatest disservice if we did not pause to consider a little of what we have learned from Denise. It seemed like it was just a few short days ago we gathered to tell her thank you and to recall with much laughter and gratitude all the hundreds of things for which we remembered her. Sadly, the time for thanking Denise face to face is gone, the time to stop and recall the things she had to teach us is not gone. And that is because those lessons are that part of Denise that lives on in all of us.
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After growing up for 45 wonderful years as a Baptist, it has been my joy to have spent the last decade as an Episcopalian; sort’a Catholic-Lite if you will. And yes, it is true that where you have four Episcopalians you will also find a fifth. But one of the elements of our faith journey, which I love, is to offer thanksgiving prayers to God for those who have gone on before me. And every morning as I drive to school I am saying my morning prayers on the Broken Arrow Expressway. As a Baptist I prayed with my eyes closed, but when driving, I pray Episcopalian style with my eyes open. Still, I’m sure that between my praying and driving I prompt many other drivers to say their prayers, too. But as I pray, it is to offer God thanks that He allowed loved ones like Denise to have touched my life and in touching my life, have taught me to serve Him better AND how to be a better person. And walking with Denise, even these few years, has made me a better person.
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In light of this as I thought of Denise while visiting with others who taught with, lived with, walked with and were touched by Denise, one descriptor that kept coming to the top was her dedicated, focused passion. As we all know, Denise was passionate…in whatever she did. But it wasn’t haphazard passion; it was a dedicated/focused passion.
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You may not know this, or want to know this. I know you don’t want to picture this, but every morning at 5:30 I’m in the swimming pool at St. John’s Health Club. Yes, I jump in and someone yells, “Thar she blows!” Still I jump in that pool with passion. I kick with passion. I stir up a huge amount of froth and foam with passion. But in that passion I go nowhere, because I have yet to learn the focus and dedication to the correct method for effective forward motion. On the other hand, the skilled swimmers, jump in with just as much passion, but because it is dedicated and focused up the proper techniques they have learned, their passionate kicking causes them to slice through the water like motor boats.
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Denise had passion, and it was focued and dedicated towards her goal. Furthermore she was able to focus on a goal that was, first) global and broad in spectrum and, second) she was also able to focus and dedicate her passion to the small details, necessary to make the broad, global goals possible. I like to say that Denise taught us to approach life like a comic book picture. She saw the big picture as well as the tiny little dots that make up that big picture. We all know gifted people who dream the big picture, but they require the detail people to work out the details that must be attended to before the big picture comes together. Likewise we know gifted people who are focused so passionately on the tiny details, the little spots of the picture, that they are not able to organize them into the big picture. Well Denise taught us that you could do both. Her big picture was teaching students to becoming thinking, educated adults. Her big picture was to make the workplace a better place for her fellow teachers. Her room was organized with just the right furniture, (which she had purchased with her own money) lessons were planned. Classroom order was kept and procedures were explained! Deadlines were met. The team functioned as a team.
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But she also taught us that to accomplish the big picture, there were hundreds of little details that needed attention: name tags on the doors, candy, the right candy in the dishes, a microwave and salt shakers in the lounge, bus passes that were laminated, pictures and movie screens hung, doors painted and messages put on the marquee. And in all of this, her passion, focus, organization, attention to the big picture and detail she was teaching us that we are called to make this life better for our passing and touching. She wanted a better world and she dedicated her self passionately to making every footstep and life touched, better because she had walked that way.
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To succeed in teaching us her lessons, she set the bar high, very high and she was dedicated in reaching that bar herself. First to arrive every morning, last to leave every afternoon she did not leave until everything was in order, so that after dedicating herself to an evening of preparation at home, tomorrow’s lesson plans were ready to deliver. She could, would, and did get upset if others did not accomplish at an expected level of competence. It was not a pleasant encounter when one experienced her well-articulated evaluation for poor production, but God help you if you failed because you had not given your best effort. Before the Army ever came up with the slogan “Be All You Can Be” Denise had been living it and teaching it for years. Yes, those of us who knew her, believed that Denise was indeed an Army of One. She gave nothing but her best and taught us to do the same. If it was going to be done, she taught us that it should be done right. If it was served, it was not served half baked, if it was turned in it wasn’t turned in half-done, if it was to be built it wasn’t built half-aaaaaaaa,……. in a half-way manner. No, with Denise, it was half-assed!
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Yes, she could make mistakes, Denise was not perfect and she was the first to admit her imperfections, but as one of our most esteemed colleagues observed, “If Denise made a mistake, you know it was made for the right reasons.” Denise made Lewis and Clark a better school, because she taught us to be better teachers, better administrators, better students, better people.
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Let us not allow this lesson to go unlearned. Denise taught us to see the big picture, she taught us to see the little details that had to be attended to, to succeed with the big picture. She taught us to set the highest goals and pursue them with passion, so that this world will be better for our passing and our touching.
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Friends, Denise Gandy may have left the building, but her lesson is still on the board…..and yes, we will be tested on this!